Yeah, but then you can point out that the ‘super powered/divinely blessed, abandoned child/orphan’ trope goes back waaaaay farther than when the myth of Moses originated.
…
Horus, son of Osiris and Isis, is made into an orphan when Seth (Set?) kills Osiris, Isis goes off for I think years to find Osiris’ body parts to be able to do a necromancy spell, Horus spends a lot of time on his own, but eventually grows up and avenges his father.
EDIT: (so, ok, this one in particular is … variable, because it is so old and there are many variants of it. sometimes Horus is alive before Osiris is killed, sometimes he is born after Osiris is resurrected, sometimes he spends a while alone, sometimes he doesn’t, sometimes it isn’t clear, he avenges the death of Osiris in different ways, etc)
Herakles, son of Zeus, orphaned demi god who is a social outcast for his freakish strength and rage, who accidentally maims and kills people … eventually grows into a heroic and beloved figure for his ability to solve problems no one else can.
Ion (from Euripedes), a bastard son result of Apollo raping the daughter of a King, left in a basket in the wilderness, expected to die, but is guided by Hermes, goes through many trials and tribulations, eventually ends up with Athena declaring him the rightful king and founder of Athens.
Enkidu, a beast-man created by the Sumerian gods, abandoned to the wilderness, whose astounding physical strength proves to be the only existing match for the 1/3 divine 2/3 human tyrant Gilgamesh, who then befriend each other and go a’questing, slaying terrible monsters, seeking magical treasures… which has the neat bonus effect of ‘now Gilgamesh is away from his realm, so he is no longer raping every woman or girl he fancies.’
Sargon the Great, Sargon of Akkad, seems to have actually been an orphan in reality, but was greatly deified by the Sumerian religion of the time.
…
I am fairly confident all of these stories temporally preceed the story of Moses, and there are a good number of ancient near east literature scholars who believe at least some of these stories were drawn on by whoever originally wrote the Exodus story.
Yeah, but then you can point out that the ‘super powered/divinely blessed, abandoned child/orphan’ trope goes back waaaaay farther than when the myth of Moses originated.
…
Horus, son of Osiris and Isis, is made into an orphan when Seth (Set?) kills Osiris, Isis goes off for I think years to find Osiris’ body parts to be able to do a necromancy spell, Horus spends a lot of time on his own, but eventually grows up and avenges his father.
EDIT: (so, ok, this one in particular is … variable, because it is so old and there are many variants of it. sometimes Horus is alive before Osiris is killed, sometimes he is born after Osiris is resurrected, sometimes he spends a while alone, sometimes he doesn’t, sometimes it isn’t clear, he avenges the death of Osiris in different ways, etc)
Herakles, son of Zeus, orphaned demi god who is a social outcast for his freakish strength and rage, who accidentally maims and kills people … eventually grows into a heroic and beloved figure for his ability to solve problems no one else can.
Ion (from Euripedes), a bastard son result of Apollo raping the daughter of a King, left in a basket in the wilderness, expected to die, but is guided by Hermes, goes through many trials and tribulations, eventually ends up with Athena declaring him the rightful king and founder of Athens.
Enkidu, a beast-man created by the Sumerian gods, abandoned to the wilderness, whose astounding physical strength proves to be the only existing match for the 1/3 divine 2/3 human tyrant Gilgamesh, who then befriend each other and go a’questing, slaying terrible monsters, seeking magical treasures… which has the neat bonus effect of ‘now Gilgamesh is away from his realm, so he is no longer raping every woman or girl he fancies.’
Sargon the Great, Sargon of Akkad, seems to have actually been an orphan in reality, but was greatly deified by the Sumerian religion of the time.
…
I am fairly confident all of these stories temporally preceed the story of Moses, and there are a good number of ancient near east literature scholars who believe at least some of these stories were drawn on by whoever originally wrote the Exodus story.